One of the successful applications on the Internet is electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is an integrative concept designed whereby business commercial communications and management are conducted through electronic methods, such as electronic data interchange and automated data-collection systems, all via the Internet. Electronic commerce is seen and utilized in many industries and markets, and it has also penetrated into the financial markets, which for many years were traded manually or with a high degree of broker intervention. The vast accessibility of the Internet and of electronic networks in general makes it possible to connect buyers and sellers more quickly and objectively.
For example, one of the largest financial services providers, Charles Schwab & Co. has changed its core business from retail to online business. With the establishment of its website www.schwab.com, Charles Schwab allows qualified investors to trade US securities at any time from anywhere as long as Wall Street is in session. To attract investors residing in other countries, Charles Schwab has websites in different foreign languages, such as Chinese. As a result, investors residing in China can trade the US securities from their accounts at Charles Schwab via the Internet.
All accounts at Charles Schwab, however, must be in US dollars and all transactions must be conducted in US dollars. FIG. 1 illustrates a process of how an investor in China would trade securities listed on a US exchange (e.g., NASDAQ). Because all securities listed on a US exchange are traded in US dollars, the investor must first pre-allocate a bulk amount in his/her local currency (e.g., RMB ¥) and look for a source to convert the amount into US dollars that are then deposited into a brokerage (e.g., Charles Schwab) by wire or check. Through the brokerage, the investor may place multiple orders to buy stocks being traded on a US exchange. At a later time, when the investor wishes to realize the profit or loss on his US dollar-denominated stock, he must sell his stock and then separately find a foreign exchange resource to convert the settlement of selling the stock back to his local currency. At the time of buying or selling the stocks, as well as during the whole period the investor held the stocks, the investor had no certain knowledge of what profit or loss he was going to get because the currency exchange rate must be obtained for a bulk amount at another time, which may fluctuate significantly enough to affect the ultimate profit or loss.
One of the problems in the current trading system is that the currency conversion is not at a transactional level. There is a great need for an improved system which performs currency conversion on a transactional level so that a trader or investor knows exactly what profit or loss may occur with a transaction. It is desirable for a trading system to be able to show prices as well as conduct all transactions in a currency preferred by an investor, regardless of whatever currency being used in the primary market for the security/asset.